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Department
of Biology
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Transportation,
visas, and important baggage information
International
flight information
- Student
Universe has terrific deals for students and faculty. We recommend
booking your flight from the US to Australia through them. As an example,
a round trip flight from Los Angeles to Sydney can be booked on Student Universe
for up to $1000 less than what you would get with an online travel company
(e.g., Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline).
Domestic travel within Australia
Major airlines
Discount airlines (These carriers usually offer
low-cost fares between major cities)
Trains
Rental cars (what Aussies call "car hire")
Getting a travel visa for the
program
- If you are traveling to Australia for
fewer than three months, you need a visitors visa and can get
one in about 15 minutes online at the following site. You will want to click
on the links to the left of the webpage and get a visitor ETA.
Australia
Electronic Travel Authority
- If you are traveling to Australia for
more than three months, you need a tourist visa. You can apply
online using the link below (takes about 20-30 minutes), and you will hear
back from Australia within two weeks. You will be given a choice for a 3-month,
6-month, or 12-month visa, so you'll probably want to choose the 6-month option.
Electronic
Visa application
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate
to call the Australian Dept of Immigration in Washington, D.C--they're really
helpful. Here's the contact
info for their US office.
- If you are traveling to New Zealand before
or after the program, and you are staying less than three months, you do
not need a visa (but you absolutely need a passport). See more details
at
Travel
document systems, New Zealand
An important note about baggage
allowances when flying
- In the US, we are generally spoiled by airlines
in terms of the amount of weight we can have in our checked baggage and our
carry-on baggage. The Australia airlines tend to be more restrictive, especially
on the discount carriers like JetStar and Virgin Blue, where they often limit
carry ons. If you have more items than they allow, they often charge an excess
baggage fee, which depends on the number of kilograms you are over their limit.
- Here is a list of baggage limits for each of
the major airlines:
- Qantas is the most like major American airlines.
One of their reps once stated that if you mention at checkin that you are
flying internationally from the US, they will often be more generous with
excess baggage.
Notes about luggage and storage
facilities in Sydney
- Sydney
International Airport
- Lockers
and luggage storage on George Street in downtown Sydney. I think a
few student on the last program used one of these businesses, and it cost
about $20/month.
- A
storage facility two suburbs away from Sydney airport
- And a couple of notes from GED, our travel coordinator,
about baggage storage:
"Google is a good search engine that finds
plenty of alternatives depending on the exact location and amount of gear
they would like to store. We would also like to advise that it
is highly recommended for the students to not bring any more luggage than
they are able to easily handle themselves as they
will be handling all of their own luggage throughout the program.
Also, it is highly recommended that the students
bring soft bags or backpacks rather than rigid suitcases as it
makes packing a large number of bags into small areas possible. Students
will be advised of this in the student information brief that we will be
preparing, but it might be good to tell them now so that they can start
planning."
back
to Carleton Australia Program page